In the latest episode of Only Murders In The Building‘s fifth season, the Arconia’s secret basement comes alive with a glitzy casino party thrown by billionaire Camila White (Renée Zellweger), who seeks ownership of the residential complex. Bets are placed, drinks flow freely, and the all-female crowd gets dressed to the nines. It’s an ideal occasion for Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), Detective Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), and Loretta (Meryl Streep) to glam up and continue investigating the deaths of a sweet doorman and a mob boss. Beyond furthering their inquiries, though, “Cuckoo Chicks” reinstates a simple fact about OMITB: Hulu’s award-winning comedy has the most fun when it focuses on the quirky, historic Upper West Side building in its title.
From the start, OMITB has turned its cool location into a character of sorts, using Mabel, Charles (Steve Martin), and Oliver’s (Martin Short) connection with their place of residence, among other things, to develop the story. Each of them has been at the Arconia for several years now, which has directly influenced their personalities, relationships, and careers. It’s also where their own friendship bloomed. Seasons one and two dug into the Arconia’s checkered past and ongoing criminal activities—as documented in the trio’s podcast—but the subsequent installments expanded OMITB‘s scope to Broadway and Hollywood. The murders of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) and Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch) just happened to be on the premises and not a result of whatever shenanigans were going on there. Thankfully, season five circles back to the beginning by putting the building front and center.
After revealing sneaky tunnels within the walls in season two, OMITB introduces yet another layer to the Arconia’s history by borrowing from some real-life New York City elements, according to set decorator Patrick Howe, who helped design the opulent, retro casino. In season five, the trio learns that the basement gaming parlor has a long-standing tradition of being the place where the city’s powerful people gather in secret to conduct business deals over a glass of whiskey or the roulette table. Staten Island gangster Nicky Caccimelio (Bobby Cannavale)—who also ran the building’s dry-cleaning service where his body was found—was the most recent operator. He paid Lester (Teddy Coluca) handsomely to allow strangers into the building after hours, but the Arconia’s lovely gatekeeper was tired of being under Nicky’s thumb and bribes and wanted out.
OMITB still has two episodes to untangle the mess of both of their deaths, but the murder mystery has stopped being the series’ anchor. The fun lies in spending time with the trio and their neighbors, like Michael Cyril Creighton’s cheeky Howard, Jackie Hoffman’s sardonic Uma, the Westies, and this year’s addition, pop singer Althea (Beanie Feldstein). OMITB joins a long line of NYC-set projects to turn city “locations” into characters, including Seinfeld, Friends, Sex And The City, and Law & Order. More recently, High Fidelity was centered on its Brooklyn record store, Daredevil: Born Again continued to probe into its version of Hell’s Kitchen, and Russian Doll made the 6 train into a pivotal part of its surreal narrative.
In Hulu’s comedy, logic needs to be suspended to buy into the proverbial (and literal) skeletons buried under the Arconia, which isn’t a problem considering the company is this good. And now, the building and its residents face a new challenge in real-estate queen bee Camila and rival tech entrepreneurs who want to demolish it and build Manhattan’s first casino. Through this storyline, OMITB tackles some classic new-versus-old New York City animosity. (Lester is replaced with a robot named L.E.S.T.R., which makes the other human employees working there nervous for their jobs.) Gone are the days when Nicky and his associates wielded control through threats. Wealthy business leaders, seemingly the new mafia, apparently don’t feel the need to conceal their plans.
Only Murders In The Building has its mojo back as it navigates these themes in season five’s strongest outings, like “Cuckoo Chicks” and the doormen-focused “After You.” It’s not like Hulu’s series was losing steam. But the show’s charm was never its ever-expanding roster of celebrities, as entertaining as they may be, or even its send-up of true crime (as the show stopped being about that as it went on). OMITB‘s strength lies in specific humor mined from the truths Mabel, Charles, and Oliver discover about the place they live in and the people they share it with. And in that sense, season five’s casino trick pays off nicely.
